Themes1st Theme:Don’t give up hope because if you do, you won’t see the end.

“Parrado and Vizintin reached the top of the hillock of snow and there indeed, a hundred yards ahead of them, was the tail of the Fairchild.” (Read 185) This passage shows that Parrado and Vizintin finally found the broken tail of the plane. Parrado and Vizintin going on an expedition to find the plane tells the reader that they didn’t loose their hope yet and seeks on getting rescued. Because of their hope, they found the broken tail of their plane. Finding the broken tail of the plane became a big step for the survivors.

“They saw a man on horseback.” (Read 303) This passage tells the reader that the survivors finally found a villager. They were interviewed about their survival after they got rescued. The story would’ve changed when the survivors didn’t have hope. When they lost their hope, they wouldn't of gone to an expedition. Although other passengers in the plane died between the crash and their survival, the other passengers survived till the end because they had hopes that they would be rescued.

2nd Theme:Never underestimate mother nature

“‘Do you want your parents to read in the papers that forty-five Uruguayans are lost in the cordillera?’ he asked.”(Read 19) This passage shows that the passengers were sure about the plane not crashing in the mountains. You should never underestimate the mother nature because something unexpected event might happen. For example, the passengers of the plane were making jokes that if they crash landed what they would do. In the beginning of the story, the plane flight was originally delayed from the bad weather, however the passengers persuaded the pilots to take off earlier. The plane taking off earlier than the planned time resulted many passengers dead.

“Immediately Pez Vilaro, Canessa, and Nicolich set off again in their own C-47 to fly over the cross once again and see if anywhere in the vicinity there was some trace of the plane itself.” (Read 272) This passage shows the reader that the fathers also underestimated mother nature. When they immediately tried searching for the survivors, they might’ve crashed, similar as the survivors’s scenario. The characters in this story mainly underestimates mother nature. At first, the fathers, (Pez Vilaro, Canessa, and Nicolich), couldn’t search for the survivors because they didn’t have any life existence evidence. Later, the fathers finally finds an evidence and searches for the survivors at once. However, finding the survivors wasn’t easy, they failed at the last.

Symbols1st Symbol:Cigarette and Wine symbolizes how much Coche received stress from the plane crash.

“Fernandez and Inciarte quarreled over cigarettes.” (Read 219) Fernandez fought with Coche and Inciarte relating to cigarettes. Fernandez didn’t let Coche use his lighter. Since the plane crash, Coche smoked more cigarettes than he did before. Pancho and Coche usually bummed alone because of their stress. Coche couldn’t do anything because he was addicted to smoking.

“Pancho taking some of Numa Turcatti’s ration because he felt that smoking was doing him no good.” (Read 219) Turcatti was right, smoking was making him weaker and weaker. Coche and Pancho probably doesn’t care about their healths, because they drink and smoke. When they drank and smoked, they were careless about how much it could harm their healths. Same as Fernandez, Fernandez was very selfish because he didn’t let other survivors use his lighters, even though he had three others.

2nd symbol: Human Flesh are the symbol, Canablism is what it symbolizes.

“For the first time, Parrado ate human flesh.” (Read 87) This shows that Parrado became insane from his hungriness. Eating human flesh is abnormal act for a human being. Parrado was very courageous because he was the first one to eat human flesh and made others try it. However, there were other survivors who also ate human flesh. Daniel Fernandez, Canessa, Fito Strauch, and the rest of the survivors except Liliana, Javier Methol, Coche Inciarte, and Pancho Delgado ate human flesh.

“Some could not do it: Liliana, Javier Methol, Coche Inciarte, and Pancho Delgado.” (Read 87) These people are the survivors that couldn’t eat human flesh at first. Human flesh that the survivors were eating were their friends. Even though the survivors were hungry, they still couldn’t eat human flesh. The survivors that decided to not eat human flesh at first were right minded opposing to the other survivors that decided to eat their dead friends.

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